Falcons are a first for historic Stump

Jackie Travers, 60, and daughter Charlie, 27, appeared on Big Brother in 2013

Published:16:30Friday 13 June 2014

Four peregrine falcon chicks have booked themselves a penthouse suite at Boston’s most high-profile address ... The Stump.

In what is being treated as a first for St Botolph’s Church, peregrine falcons have hatched on the building’s tower.

Church officials say there is no record of peregrine falcons hatching at The Stump before and, added to this, the charity which has been monitoring the birds, the British Trust for Ornithology, says it is only in recent years the species have looked beyond their traditional home of sea cliffs to nest.

Mike Bartlett, director of operations at The Stump, said he was confident it was the first time it had happened in at least the last century or so.

He said: “We are very pleased they are on top of the town. We just hope they are all going to be safe, all fly away and we get more next year.”

The quartet - two males and two females - are now a little over a month old and positioned on the next level up from the observation deck, more than 200ft high.

Mr Bartlett added that The Stump, for next year, hope to team up with a sponsor to install a live video feed to allow people to watch the chicks should more hatch.

Grahame Madge, a spokesman for the RSPB, said peregrine falcon numbers were hit hard in the 1950s and 1960s due to pesticides entering the food chain, but their colonisation of The Stump was an indication the species was returning to strength.

He said: “It’s really fantastic news because it shows these magnificent birds of prey are beginning to recover.”